


Late Night Patrols

by violasarecool



Series: What Can 8 Grey Wardens Do? [22]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: Demigirl, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Gen, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Other, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 12:43:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7618543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violasarecool/pseuds/violasarecool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Talia comes back from a grueling patrol, and finds Dwinna already there. adorableness ensues</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i realized recently that i hadn't actually written anything with my favourite warden triad, which is a horrific shame. so hey, here's some pre-triad fluff and flirting :))
> 
> ketkoni's a demigirl, she/they pronouns; dwinna's a trans woman, she/her, talia's cis, she/her

It was late in the evening when Talia trudged back to the keep, shoulders low and feet dragging so she tripped several times up the stairs to her quarters. When she finally made it through the door, she took a few steps in, dropping her armour on the floor before she collapsed on the bed with a groan.

Which turned into a sharp intake of breath as she landed on her injured side. "Fuck," she muttered.

There was a shifting sound a few feet away. "Are you ok?" came a voice, Dwinna's. Talia swore inwardly; she hadn't even realized anyone else was there.

"I'm fine," she said, sitting up.

Dwinna stared at her for a moment, frowning. "No you're not," she said, standing up, "for Stone's sake, you're _injured,_ aren't you?" She crossed the room in a few strides, crouched on the bed beside her. "Shirt," she commanded.

Talia's face flushed as the implications of what Dwinna had said sunk in. And she was _not_ taking her shirt off in front of Dwinna."I-I'm fine, really."

Dwinna glared at her, unimpressed. "So help me Ancestors I will take it off for you if you don't cooperate."

"There's no need," Talia protested. Then, in the face of Dwinna's unrelenting glare, she sighed. "Look, Merle saw to it already, I'm not an idiot." She lifted the side of her shirt to show Dwinna the bandages Merle had meticulously wrapped over the rest of the injury they hadn't dared try healing with magic.

Dwinna sat back, then gave Talia an apologetic look. "Alright, sorry. I guess I'm just used to Ket trying to avoid treatment."

"Right." Talia looked down at the bed. She'd more or less successfully managed to forget about Dwinna and Ketkoni's relationship until then, but now she was acutely aware of how close Dwinna was sitting, how they were alone together in this small room. _She's just being friendly,_ Talia reminded herself. "She's not back yet?" Talia asked, leaning back slightly to put some space between them.

"No," Dwinna said. "She's not that late, though." She tipped her head toward Talia. "But you should have been back a long time ago. What happened?"

Oh, Maker. Another thing she'd managed to forget about until now. "It was my fault," Talia admitted. "There was a fire on one of the farms further out by the Wending Woods, so we went to go check up on the villagers. There was someone trapped in the barn, and I went inside for them, even though the roof was already collapsing." She twisted her hands in the fabric of her shirt. "I couldn't get to them. And Alistair had to drag me out through the fire," she said hollowly. "He got hit by a falling beam because of me, Merle had to treat him for a concussion."

"Hey, it's not your fault," Dwinna said, reaching for her hand, taking it between two of hers. Talia's eyes jerked up to meet hers as her heartrate tripped into a rushed thudding pace.

"It _is,_ though. It... it was a stupid risk," Talia murmured. "I knew I wouldn't be able to get to them in time, and I still did it. I should have known better."

"It's not stupid. You were trying to save them."

"I didn't, though."

The responding look on Dwinna's face was too sympathetic for comfort. Talia looked away, trying to resist the urge to jerk her hand free, to run far far away where no one could see her. Maybe Dwinna sensed this, because she let go a moment later. _Ok,_ Talia thought, _I guess that's it._ Then arms were wrapping around her, and her brain stopped producing coherent thoughts.

Dwinna pulled her close, resting her head against Talia's shoulder. _Uh._ Talia's skin burned where Dwinna's arms put gentle pressure onto her, and her heart was beating so fast and loud she was sure Dwinna could hear it.

_What._

Dwinna was hugging her. It took a couple of seconds for Talia to process this, her entire body frozen in place. Of the the three of them, Ketkoni was the one she would have expected to initiate physical contact. And even then, it'd be a slap on the back, or a teasing hand around her waist, not a _hug._ Although, now that she thought about it, Ketkoni and Dwinna hugged fairly frequently. Maybe it was just her.

As the shock wore off, she looked down, and noticed Dwinna's arms beginning to slip, barely long enough to wrap themselves entirely around Talia's waist. A laugh escaped her, and Dwinna looked up, curious. "What?"

"Your arms can barely reach all the way around," Talia said, shaking her head fondly.

Dwinna's mouth curved up in amusement. "Excuse me for not having extravagantly long _human_ arms."

Then, the door to their room swung open. "I thought that patrol would never end," Ketkoni said, closing the door behind her. Then, she looked over at Talia and Dwinna, who hadn't moved as she came in. "Did the messenger lose my invitation to the cuddle pile?" Ketkoni said, giving them a sly grin.

"Apparently," Dwinna said, before Talia had the chance to say anything.

"Good thing I made it here anyway," Ketkoni said, kicking off her boots, before making her way over. She sat on the other side of Talia, weaving her arms through Dwinna's so that Talia's arms were now firmly pinned down--one hand flopped awkwardly on her leg, the stump of her other arm pressed against Dwinna's chest.

Talia gave Ketkoni a nervous smile. "Hi."

"Hi," Ketkoni said cheerfully. "My patrol sucked balls, how was yours?"

"About the same," Talia said ruefully.

"Damn." She sighed, letting her forehead thwack gently into Talia's shoulder. A moment later, she made a sputtering sound as she got a mouthful of Talia's hair. "Gross," she exclaimed, blowing it out of the way, and Dwinna and Talia both laughed.

"The colour suits you," Talia attempted, then was overcome by another burst of laughter as Ketkoni looked up, her confusion made even more entertaining by the curly strands of rust-coloured hair that was statically clinging to Ketkoni's own purple undercut.

"She's lying," Dwinna informed her, as Ketkoni reached up a hand to her head to discover the long strands of hair.

Ketkoni grinned, pulling more of the hair over her face until only her chin was visible. "How about now?" she said.

"Even more attractive," Talia said. "They'll sing odes to your beauty."

Ketkoni flipped the hair out of her face dramatically, made a kissy face at Talia. "Will they."

"With a face like that?" Talia said, laughing as Ketkoni pulled increasingly ridiculous faces. "Of course they will."

Dwinna leaned back slightly, resting her arms on Talia's leg. "You should ask Kit to, it would be adorable."

"Wait," Ketkoni said, "Kit can sing?"

"Yes?"

"Yes," Talia affirmed.

Ketkoni crossed her arms in mock affront. "Why didn't anyone _tell_ me? Why didn't _they_ tell me? Imagine the song pranks we could pull!"

Dwinna laughed. "Big plans. You'd better get started."

"Not yet," Ketkoni said, latching back onto Talia's arm, "cuddle pile isn't officially adjourned yet."

Talia looked down at Ketkoni, face falling slightly. "Would you like it to be?" she asked hesitantly.

"Nope," Ketkoni said, leaning against her with a sigh. "I'm too damn comfy to move. You'll just have to be trapped."

Talia bit back a smile. "Oh no, whatever will I do?"

"You'll be stuck here forever if she falls asleep on you, for one thing," Dwinna said.

"A tiny dwarf like her?" Talia teased. "I'd be more concerned about falling asleep on her and smothering her."

"Hah!" Ketkoni let go and slid off the bed. "Just because I only fight with little daggers," she reached under Talia's legs and around her back, and Dwinna scrambled back as Ketkoni scooped Talia into her arms, Talia's breath catching as she found herself lifted bodily from the bed. "Still strong," Ketkoni said, and Talia swallowed, watching with appreciation as Ketkoni's arm muscles strained into view.

"Amazing," Dwinna said, grinning.

"Amazing," Talia agreed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> earlier that evening, ketkoni runs into quentin on her way back from patrol

_Earlier:_

Truthfully, Ketkoni's patrol hadn't been _that_ bad. A group of darkspawn had surprised them near the end, though, and that just about sapped the rest of her energy. When Oghren, Nathaniel, and Kit had started making their way back, Ketkoni waved them on ahead, deciding instead to take a quick breather before heading back. So when she passed the Amaranthine port, feet dragging as she enjoyed the quiet sounds of water sweeping against the cliffs, she assumed she was alone.

As she walked down the hill, however, she saw a figure sitting hunched at the end of the dock, white hair glinting in the low sunlight over blue armour.  _Well, that'd be the Commander,_ she thought, slowing. There was no one else around, and after a moment, she turned, and headed towards him.

"Hey, uh, you ok?" she called from the end of the dock.

"Yeah," Quentin said, not moving, "just taking a break."

"Alright..." Ketkoni watched him a moment, then walked closer, sitting down beside him on the damp wooden surface. The water swirled around the supporting poles, splashing up and dotting their legs with beads of moisture. "Smells nice. The air around here," she added, glancing at him. "Kind of tastes like salt, but different than the mines."

"Do the rocks..." Quentin started, then he rested his head back on his arms. "Nevermind."

"Do rocks taste like salt? Some of them. Do I make a point of _licking rocks?_ " She grinned. "Sometimes, if the dare's good enough. Never in Dust town, though, you never know who's used that spot to piss on."

Quentin gave a quiet huffing laugh.

"I might actually trust the rocks up here to be clean," she said, glancing around at the cliffs that climbed jagged paths to plateau above them. "Even where the water can't reach to give 'em a good scrub."

"There's still birds," Quentin murmured, shooting her a small smile.

"Right," Ketkoni said, rolling her eyes, "those feathery bastards. I can almost see why Talia's afraid of them. Uh..." she glanced at Quentin, "don't tell her I said that."

Quentin made a zipping motion across his lips.

"Hahh." She leaned back staring at the sky. "Lot of weird shit comes from not having a ton of rock over your head at all times. All this rain, and clouds, and sun, and _birds_..."

"Maybe that's why we build our own rock ceilings," Quentin said. "Or wood. Ours was rock, though."

"Right. Not like we don't have _buildings_ in Orzammar, though. I mean, you've been there, yeah? I don't know shit about architecture, but your little straw houses got  _nothing_ on the towers the rich fucks build in the Stone."

Quentin smiled. "Your people do have a way with stonework."

Ketkoni made a dismissive sound. "They're about as much 'my people' as the humans are _your_ people. The nobles have their towers; the casteless live in crumbling houses crammed together on the edge of a stream of lava."

"Sorry," Quentin said.

"Nah, don't be," Ketkoni said. "I'm out, and I pity the poor bastards who are still stuck down there. I might not have a big happy elf family," she gave him a teasing look, "but I've got Dwinna, and a job with the Wardens, so that's pretty good."

Quentin gave her a bemused look. "A big happy elf family?"

"Sure," Ketkoni said, "you've got the face markings, right, aren't you one of the ones from the big clans in the forest? All spiritual elf voodoo?"

"Uh..." Quentin shook his head. "I was born in the city. The tattoos were... mostly to honour my parents, I guess. To remember them by."

"Oh. That's cool."

He shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. It's weird sometimes, though. People assume I know things I don't. Dalish things."

"Comes with not being a human, doesn't it? Not the Dalish part, but, you know. You wouldn't _believe_ the number of people who've asked me to identify rocks for them. I'm like 'well that one's kinda brown and looks like a fossilized piece of shit, so yeah, sure, dig away!'"

Quentin laughed. "That's true."

"Ancestors, I wonder how many nug-heads from the Carta have used that to make some quick gold. Forget the Wardens, I could be running a mining scam with bigger profits than Beraht made in a year!" She grinned at Quentin, who raised his eyebrows at her, amused. "Don't worry, Dwinna'd never go for it. She'd be bored stiff. You're stuck with me, Commander."

"I think I can handle that," he said, smiling. He glanced to his right at the fading glow of sunlight reflected in the choppy water. "You should head back if you don't want to be caught out in the dark without a torch."

"You staying out still?" Ketkoni asked, standing up.

"For a bit longer," Quentin said. "The sunset is beautiful, here."

"Alright," Ketkoni shrugged. "Enjoy."

"Thank you."


End file.
